New York City horse carriage ban bill heads to City Council

NEW YORK (WABC) -- The carriage industry is being challenged. Early next week legislation is expected to go before city council and both sides are digging in for a tough battle.

Trying to hold on to their carriage jobs amid a renewed effort to take the famed horses off city streets, the $19-million dollar carriage industry is facing another fight.

City council member Daniel Drom is the main sponsor of newly proposed legislation to ban the carriages.

"The horse carriage drivers (will have) the opportunity to get a green cab driver license. That is a value between $4,000 and $6,000 dollars. We feel that is an acceptable alternative," Drom said.

Drivers like Christina Hansen say they are blind-sided.

"We are not cab drivers we are horse people. And i don't care what color the cab is unless it has a horse in front of it we are not interested," Hansen said.

The drivers are also heard in a video posted on YouTube voicing their frustration at Mayor de Blasio, who vows to have the horses removed.

Now the drivers are hearing this new legislation also calls for job retraining.

"So that they can get something else perhaps in another industry," Drom said.

"They are against that. They have a job. A job that they love, and that is driving the horse carriage through Central Park," Demos Demopoulos, executive director of Teamsters 553, said.

NYClass, a group seeking to remove carriages from city streets, says in a statement: "This is the right creative solution that benefits all New Yorkers by adding jobs while also ending an unsafe and inhumane industry."

While both sides believe they have strong support to win their position, the city council process can take six months are longer.